


The Road Not Taken

by Wandering_Starmaster



Category: Final Fantasy Series, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Comfort/Angst, Conversations, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dreams and Nightmares, Friendship, Kalm (Compilation of FFVII), Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26690527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wandering_Starmaster/pseuds/Wandering_Starmaster
Summary: After escaping from Midgar, Aerith and Tifa find time to discuss what may happen next.
Kudos: 4





	The Road Not Taken

Aerith knelt in quiet contemplation, her mind in tune with the voices that made up the Lifestream. She felt somewhat guilty; she knew the others would be worried, but this was necessary, and it was something only she could do. Only a Cetra.

She felt their presence nearby and opened her eyes to see her friends there. They had come for her! There was Cloud, and she was so happy to see him…

Then a gleaming blade emerged from her chest.

Aerith abruptly sat up, hand on her chest and looking wildly about. The room was dark, it was still late or possibly very early morning.

“Aerith?” a concerned voice came from the other bed.

“Oh, Tifa. I’m sorry.”

Tifa propped herself up and looked at the flower girl. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah…I just need some air, I think.” Aerith slipped out of bed and went out the door. She tiptoed past the door leading to the guys’ and Red’s room before going down the stairs. Outside, the town of Kalm was living up to its name; there was hardly anything awake at this hour, the light of the moon giving it a somewhat ghostly appearance.

Aerith shuddered as the chill of the air settled around her, wrapping her arms around herself and rubbing them. She looked up at the moon as her thoughts turned back to her dream and then to what had happened at the edge of Midgar.

Things were different now, but what did that mean?

“Aerith.” Tifa came outside and stood beside her.

“I thought you’d go back to sleep.”

“I was worried. It’s chilly out here, you could catch a cold.”

Aerith giggled; oh, Tifa, you mother chocobo. “I’m alright, I just needed a few minutes. I was just…thinking.”

Tifa nodded but didn’t leave, huddling into her arms and trying to keep from shivering. Aerith sighed, clearly the girl wasn’t going to leave until she did, and if she was going to guilt-trip her…

“Come on, let’s sit down,” Aerith said. Tifa nodded and the pair went back into the inn to one of the couches in the lobby. They sat down, Aerith staring at the floor and Tifa looking at Aerith.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Tifa spoke. “You were dreaming…about what was supposed to happen, weren’t you?”

Aerith gave a tiny terse nod.

“It was bad, wasn’t it?”

Another nod.

Tifa watched the other girl intently, thinking back to their experience fighting the Arbiters of Fate, the glimpses of the future they had seen…

Cloud, standing in a lake with Aerith’s body…

She looked hesitant then asked again, “Were you…going to die?”

Aerith drew in an almost imperceptible breath before letting it out. “I think so.”

Tifa felt a chill run down her spine. Aerith, dying. She’d only known the other girl for a few days but already that seemed too terrible to contemplate.

“But, that won’t happen now, right?” she asked. “We changed things. We can avoid it.” She leaned forward, trying to look Aerith in the face. “Right?”

“Can we?” Aerith asked in an uncharacteristic sullen tone.

“Aerith, talk to me. Please.”

“I…I’m just tired. I’m tired of it all,” Aerith said. “My entire life has been defined by one thing…being the last Ancient. I could hear things no one else could, I knew things I wasn’t supposed to, Shinra has been after me because of it, and people tend to avoid me because of it.” She felt Tifa put a hand on her shoulder.

“And through it all,” she continued, “there’s been this sense of some… destiny I have to fulfill. Some great service for the Planet.” She took a breath. “I think I was supposed to die for it.”

Tifa looked aghast. “Well, that’s… _terrible_! How could the Planet ask that of you?”

Aerith flinched and looked away. “It’s my duty as a Cetra. But…I was afraid. So, when we got the chance to change fate, I took it without hesitation.”

“Of course, you did.” Tifa said reassuringly. “I would have too. I’m not going to blame you for wanting to change something that goes wrong.”

“Did it go wrong, though?” Aerith asked. “What if my death was what made defeating Sephiroth possible?”

“How could…” Tifa squawked then stopped. Was Aerith speaking in hypotheticals, or did she know more than she was letting on? There was still so much about this girl that was mysterious, even to Aerith herself it sometimes seemed.

Tifa thought back to the Shinra tower. “What about Barret? He died and those things brought him back.”

Aerith shook her head. “He wasn’t supposed to die, remember? That’s the only reason they brought him back. And anyway, after what we did, I don’t think we’d be able to count on them anymore.”

“Yeah,” Tifa agreed, “that’s right. They can’t force us onto their course anymore.” She looked at Aerith with a hopeful expression. “So, we have a chance to make it better now, right?”

Aerith was silent. Tifa asked more insistently, “Right?”

“I hope so.” Aerith almost whispered. “But…I just have this sense of dread that things are going to get a _lot_ worse now. I don’t want to die, but I don’t want to lose you or anyone else, either.”

“Then we’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Aerith gave a short laugh. “You make it sound so easy, but it’s not that simple. Not anymore.” She turned to look at Tifa. “Sephiroth succeeded. He got us to do exactly what he wanted. And now…there’s no telling what will happen.”

Tifa looked at her, then said, “We’ll stop him. If we could do it before, we can do it now.”

Aerith looked back at the floor.

“Aerith, hey, look at me.” Aerith turned her gaze up to meet Tifa’s. “I don’t know where this is going to go, but I do know that all we can do is try to do the best we can. No matter what happens.”

Aerith was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “You’re right. No matter what happens, we’ll just have to make the most of it.” She gave a grim smile. “And if I do die, I’ll just have to make the best of that too.”

Tifa stared at her as though not sure what to make of that, then laughed. “Only you, Aerith. Only you could consider dying and then ‘making the best of it’.”

“Well, if I’m going to die, might as well make it mean something, right?” Aerith said as she got up.

“Hey, no more of that talk. It’s not going to happen. We won’t let it,” Tifa stated, rising as well.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Aerith said. “Because now if I _do_ die, I’m going to come back and haunt you. And believe me, you don’t want _that_ to happen,” she said with a grin.

Tifa chuckled. “No, I certainly don’t.” They shared a giggle before Tifa headed back toward the stairs. “Come on, we should get some sleep while we can.”

Aerith nodded in agreement. “Alright. I’ll be up in a minute. And Tifa,” the other girl paused halfway up the stairs, “thanks.” Tifa smiled at her before continuing upstairs while she turned to look out a window. Beyond the town, the Midgar plains stretched out to the distant horizon, a vast world, almost overwhelming. She hadn’t been lying when she’d said she was afraid before, but the truth was she was still afraid.

This was her first time being outside Midgar, and it was more than she had even imagined, and they weren’t even that far away yet! It was all she could do to not run home, get in her bed and pull the covers over her head. But that would do no good now. Things had been set in motion, and there was no escaping them.

And somewhere out there was the man who had started it all.

“Where are you?” Aerith asked, looking up at the moon. “And what are you planning?”

The moon did not answer, and Aerith eventually headed back upstairs. She would need her rest for whatever was coming.


End file.
